Ruia resigns as Dunlop India director

Dunlop India Ltd has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange of Pawan Kumar Ruia’s resignation as company director, effective August 10. The chairman of parent company the Ruia Group now holds no official office at Dunlop India, having stepped down as chairman of the tyre maker’s Board of Directors on January 31, 2011.

According to a statement from Dunlop India, the Ruia Group chairman has chosen to resign from the directorship of all operating subsidiaries “to augment his energies in [the] further growth of the Ruia Group.” The statement adds this decision is in accordance with Mr. Ruia’s vision of “further professionalising the operations of these companies.”

It may or may not be coincidence that Ruia’s resignation was tendered shortly after the West Bengal state government asked him to account for various issues linked to the tyre maker’s Sahaganj factory. On August 1, West Bengal labour minister Purnendu Bose said Ruia had seven days to present a detailed plan for the Sahaganj plan’s future. Dunlop India says it has informed the state government that it is hiring a consultant to prepare a detailed project report, however it could not comment on the timeframe this involves.

The tyre maker’s financial results for March to June 2011, the first quarter of the current financial year, were also released on August 11 and show Dunlop India to have recorded a net loss of Rs 11,630,000 (£158,000), a poor result following its whole year net profit of Rs 201,690,000 (£2.7 million) during 2010. Net sales of Rs 1,137,840,000 (£15.5 million) were achieved during the March to June quarter, down some 77 per cent year-on-year.